Welcome to Gathering Magic's weekly quintet of decks you should be aware of this weekend, whether you're playing a major online event, going to a Grand Prix, or hitting Friday Night Magic. This week, it's Pro Tour Oath of the Gatewatch, with a new Limited and Modern landscape, so there's a load to discuss.

Outkasting Spells

With this Pro Tour, Atlanta becomes the seventh city to host four Pro Tours (joining New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego, Honolulu, and Seattle). If that strikes you as unusual, that’s appropriate since it's the first Modern Pro Tour not to have Splinter Twin in it. Since the January 27 downtime that put into effect the bans of Splinter Twin and Summer Bloom, here's what went 3–1 or better at least twice in Modern Dailies (Bold = won a Daily):

• Jund 4 (won 2)
• Ad Nauseam Combo 3
• Naya Company 3
• Affinity 3
• G/W Hexproof 3
• Merfolk 3
• Abzan 2
• Blue Moon 2

U/R Delver and Kiki-Chord each won a Daily in its only 3–1 or better appearance.

It appears the metagame continues to be diverse; in particular, the Eldrazi haven't overrun the format. Saturday's winner shows a couple subtle shifts that are not universally adopted but hint at changes in a post-ban world:

Jund ? Modern | Goodnewseveryone

• Creatures (13)
• 3 Scavenging Ooze
• 4 Dark Confidant
• 4 Tarmogoyf
• 1 Olivia Voldaren
• 1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 4 Liliana of the Veil

• Spells (19)
• 2 Abrupt Decay
• 2 Kolaghan's Command
• 3 Terminate
• 4 Lightning Bolt
• 2 Maelstrom Pulse
• 2 Thoughtseize
• 4 Inquisition of Kozilek

• Lands (24)
• 1 Forest
• 2 Swamp
• 1 Blood Crypt
• 1 Hissing Quagmire
• 1 Stomping Ground
• 2 Overgrown Tomb
• 2 Wooded Foothills
• 3 Bloodstained Mire
• 3 Raging Ravine
• 4 Blackcleave Cliffs
• 4 Verdant Catacombs

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Thoughtseize
• 1 Ancient Grudge
• 1 Disfigure
• 1 Duress
• 1 Feed the Clan
• 1 Fulminator Mage
• 1 Grafdigger's Cage
• 2 Grim Lavamancer
• 2 Huntmaster of the Fells
• 3 Kitchen Finks
• 1 Shatterstorm

Buy This Deck

So what stands out from this list?

Olivia Voldaren — Sure, Olivia's been around off-and-on in Jund for years. But if the format's all Affinity and Eldrazi as several fear, Olivia is well-positioned. Olivia might be too slow for most Affinity scenarios, but she makes moving Cranial Plating difficult, which is important for thwarting the Inkmoth Nexus long game. More importantly, she can clean up Blight Herder's Eldrazi Scion tokens and steal large Eldrazi outright. Her presence on the battlefield prevents some lines of play for decks that otherwise get to jam all their spells. If Olivia steals an Eldrazi Vampire this weekend, that clip will be high entertainment.

Hissing Quagmire — Since Oath of the Gatewatch is still in low supply online, it's unknown whether Goodnewseveryone preferred a singleton Hissing Quagmire or whether more were desired. Either way, it appears it can make the grade in Modern, and since it fixes Jund and Abzan mana, it might show up in a large percentage of lists this weekend.

Thursday's winner has a firmer place in the metagame with the bannings:

Naya Company ? Modern| hoveydw

• Creatures (26)
• 3 Qasali Pridemage
• 3 Scavenging Ooze
• 4 Knight of the Reliquary
• 4 Loxodon Smiter
• 4 Noble Hierarch
• 4 Tarmogoyf
• 4 Wild Nacatl

• Spells (12)
• 1 Dromoka's Command
• 3 Collected Company
• 4 Lightning Bolt
• 4 Path to Exile

• Lands (22)
• 1 Mountain
• 1 Plains
• 2 Forest
• 1 Ghost Quarter
• 1 Horizon Canopy
• 1 Kessig Wolf Run
• 1 Raging Ravine
• 1 Sacred Foundry
• 1 Temple Garden
• 2 Arid Mesa
• 2 Stomping Ground
• 4 Windswept Heath
• 4 Wooded Foothills

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Bonfire of the Damned
• 2 Crumble to Dust
• 1 Feed the Clan
• 3 Fulminator Mage
• 2 Grim Lavamancer
• 2 Leyline of Sanctity
• 2 Stony Silence

Buy This Deck

Dromoka's Command is less necessary now that Splinter Twin's gone. Path to Exile is very necessary as the format presumably moves to midrange and large things. The versions that placed this week were on the Knight of the Reliquary plan, with Kessig Wolf Run and Ghost Quarter the agreed-upon silver bullets. (Raging Ravine and Stirring Wildwood also made appearances.)

This deck's adaptability might lead to surprises at the Pro Tour. Surprises among the successful decks of this type last week include Ghor-Clan Rampager, Ajani Vengeant, Blood Moon, Fracturing Gust, Hallow, Aven Mindcensor, Elspeth, Knight-Errant, and even Woolly Thoctar. As with many decks like this, whoever reads the metagame best has a chance of making a deep run.

If you miss U/R control, it still has game, as Friday's Daily shows:

Blue Moon ? Modern | Kayu

• Creatures (8)
• 4 Snapcaster Mage
• 2 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
• 2 Vendilion Clique

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 2 Jace, Architect of Thought

• Spells (27)
• 1 Izzet Charm
• 1 Spell Snare
• 1 Think Twice
• 2 Electrolyze
• 2 Logic Knot
• 2 Mana Leak
• 2 Remand
• 3 Cryptic Command
• 4 Lightning Bolt
• 1 Roast
• 4 Serum Visions
• 3 Blood Moon
• 1 Vedalken Shackles

• Lands (23)
• 1 Mountain
• 1 Plains
• 8 Island
• 1 Desolate Lighthouse
• 1 Hallowed Fountain
• 1 Sacred Foundry
• 2 Steam Vents
• 4 Flooded Strand
• 4 Scalding Tarn

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Anger of the Gods
• 1 Dispel
• 1 Engineered Explosives
• 1 Izzet Staticaster
• 3 Molten Rain
• 2 Negate
• 2 Path to Exile
• 1 Spellskite
• 1 Timely Reinforcements
• 1 Wear // Tear

Buy This Deck

When Lee Shi Tian and friends debuted this deck, one of its biggest problems was its win conditions. Master of Waves was decent at going wide, but it relied on Spreading Seas and Threads of Disloyalty to be an actual win condition. Although Vendilion Clique and Jace, Architect of Thought, present in the list above, could help Master of Waves, those cards aren't necessary anymore thanks to Pia and Kiran Nalaar, who achieve much of the same width as Master of Waves while being more reliable overall. Just as importantly, it's a great control win condition in a deck with Blood Moon since it curves well regardless of the lands drawn to that point.

While it is presumably correct to call this deck Blue Moon, it's not on a mana-denial plan outside the namesake enchantment; instead, it's a hybrid of it and traditional control shells. The Mana Leak/Logic Knot/Remand/Spell Snare split is hard to play around, and in the hands of a skilled control player, it should work at the Pro Tour as well as ever.

One Spicy Metaball

All the cards in this Friday deck have a long tournament pedigree, and yet, the deck is innovative. Color me impressed:

Mardu Tokens ? Modern | tmar1010

• Creatures (13)
• 2 Monastery Mentor
• 3 Dark Confidant
• 4 Abbot of Keral Keep
• 4 Young Pyromancer

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad

• Spells (24)
• 2 Zealous Persecution
• 4 Lightning Bolt
• 4 Lightning Helix
• 4 Path to Exile
• 4 Inquisition of Kozilek
• 4 Lingering Souls
• 2 Intangible Virtue

• Lands (22)
• 2 Mountain
• 2 Plains
• 2 Swamp
• 1 Vault of the Archangel
• 2 Blood Crypt
• 2 Godless Shrine
• 2 Marsh Flats
• 2 Sacred Foundry
• 2 Shambling Vent
• 4 Bloodstained Mire
• 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

• Sideboard (13)
• 1 Zealous Persecution
• 3 Duress
• 4 Leyline of Sanctity
• 3 Stony Silence
• 2 Wear // Tear

Buy This Deck

The synergy overlaps in this deck are beautiful. Abbot of Keral Keep and Dark Confidant provide extra cards; Abbot of Keral Keep and Monastery Mentor have prowess; and Monastery Mentor, Young Pyromancer, Lingering Souls, and Sorin, Lord of Innistrad make tokens. Combined with a load of removal and Intangible Virtue, it appears this deck can take W/B Tokens's old place in the metagame securely. Shambling Vent gives depth that the archetype hasn't had before, and its lifelink pairs with Lightning Helix to dig out of Dark Confidant–dug holes.

There's a lot to like here, as the nonred version of this deck was always fine but rarely more than that (and as someone who used to play it, I felt it was more than that). This version's leaner and meaner, and it looks fun to play as well.

Limited Sample Size

Although the three Limited Grand Prix that happened over the weekend—Nagoya, Mexico City, and Vancouver—drafted fairly differently in the final Drafts, their combined results allow a couple conclusions. If we take each color that was in a 3–0 deck and give that color a 3–0 record, and then repeat it for the 2–1s, 1–1s, and 0–1s (since it's single-elimination), there's a composite picture of the Draft metagame that can inform Pro Tour analysis.

White: 8–10

Blue: 8–9

Black: 8–11

Red: 14–9

Green: 7–8

Colorless: 8–12

Red was present in five of the six decks that made the finals; despite being the most played color, it was the only color to post a winning record. Keeping with the wisdom from Battle for Zendikar, few played green, and the results indicate there isn't necessarily mega-value by jumping into the color now. But the main takeaway is that colorless might not be worth a splash. The majority of one-and-done decks were colorless, and the winning deck with colorless, Adam Jansen's from Vancouver, only had it for Immobilizer Eldrazi's activation and Gravity Negator's trigger—hardly back-breaking if the single Wastes didn't show up.

Not only did red go 14–9; U/R went 6–0. Given that result and the apparent trap of colorless mana, the deck that won Mexico City is probably the most instructive as to what the pros want to draft this weekend:

U/R Surge ? Fabrizio Anteri | Oath of the Gatewatch Draft

• Creatures (15)
• 2 Umara Entangler
• 2 Jwar Isle Avenger
• 3 Zada's Commando
• 1 Akoum Flameseeker
• 2 Cinder Hellion
• 1 Goblin Freerunner
• 1 Jori En, Ruin Diver
• 1 Eldrazi Skyspawner
• 1 Reckless Cohort
• 1 Valakut Predator

• Spells (8)
• 1 Slip Through Space
• 1 Boulder Salvo
• 1 Devour in Flames
• 1 Touch of the Void
• 1 Comparative Analysis
• 1 Expedite
• 1 Outnumber
• 1 Pyromancer's Assault

• Lands (17)
• 7 Island
• 9 Mountain
• 1 Wandering Fumarole

Buy This Deck

Jansen's deck also had Jori En, Ruin Diver. Whether U/R is worth drafting outside that rare is unknown, but it's not as though one rare can carry a bad deck. With G/W support winning Nagoya, it appears the best decks are more old-school Zendikar—a lot of swinging with small stuff—than they are Rise of the Eldrazi–style sloth.

Conclusion

Having Pro Tours so close to set debuts and banning announcements ups the excitement by reducing known information. But there's still enough to make educated guesses going in. I'm excited to see how everything shakes out in Modern and Draft. What are you expecting to see this weekend?